Podcast appearances and mentions of kevin holesh

It can be hard to know if you're on the right track for building your career or business. Manoush and Jen consider crucial lessons from entrepreneurs whom they've reported on over the past five years, including a CEO who changed his business model after the U.S. 2016 presidential election and a software engineer who built an app ahead of its time. Plus, help for a listener worried she's addicted to "zigzagging"...and Valerie Jarrett explains what accepting professional sharp turns did for her career. ZigZag is the business show about being human. Join a community of listeners riding the twists and turns of late-capitalism, searching for a kinder, more sustainable way. Manoush Zomorodi and Jen Poyant investigate how work and business impact our wellbeing and the planet we live on. On Seasons 4 and 5, hear from rebels and visionaries with radical ideas on how we can build stable lives, careers, and companies.  If you’re also interested in Jen and Manoush’s personal story and their adventures in starting their own business with a little help from blockchain technology, listen to the first three seasons, starting with Season 1, Chapter 1. **Who You’ll Hear: **@manoushz (Manoush Zomorodi, host of ZigZag and cofounder of Stable Genius Productions), @jpoyant (Jen Poyant, cohost of ZigZag and cofounder of Stable Genius Productions) Tim Kendall, CEO of Moment App, @kevinholesh (Kevin Holesh, Founder and Designer of Moment App, @DrewDAgostino (Drew DAgostino, founder of @CrystalKnowsMe) Sign up for our newsletter and subscribe to the podcast for free on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, RadioPublic, Stitcher, Overcast, Spotify, or Breaker. CREDITS: Matt Boynton, Audio Engineer and Sound Designer Ania Grzesik, Audio Engineer David Herman, Composer Maria Wurttele, Production Coordinator

It can be hard to know if you're on the right track for building your career or business. Manoush and Jen consider crucial lessons from entrepreneurs whom they've reported on over the past five years, including a CEO who changed his business model after the U.S. 2016 presidential election and a software engineer who built an app ahead of its time. Plus, help for a listener worried she's addicted to "zigzagging"...and Valerie Jarrett explains what accepting professional sharp turns did for her career. ZigZag is the business show about being human. Join a community of listeners riding the twists and turns of late-capitalism, searching for a kinder, more sustainable way. Manoush Zomorodi and Jen Poyant investigate how work and business impact our wellbeing and the planet we live on. On Seasons 4 and 5, hear from rebels and visionaries with radical ideas on how we can build stable lives, careers, and companies.  If you’re also interested in Jen and Manoush’s personal story and their adventures in starting their own business with a little help from blockchain technology, listen to the first three seasons, starting with Season 1, Chapter 1. **Who You’ll Hear: **@manoushz (Manoush Zomorodi, host of ZigZag and cofounder of Stable Genius Productions), @jpoyant (Jen Poyant, cohost of ZigZag and cofounder of Stable Genius Productions) Tim Kendall, CEO of Moment App, @kevinholesh (Kevin Holesh, Founder and Designer of Moment App, @DrewDAgostino (Drew DAgostino, founder of @CrystalKnowsMe) Sign up for our newsletter and subscribe to the podcast for free on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, RadioPublic, Stitcher, Overcast, Spotify, or Breaker. CREDITS: Matt Boynton, Audio Engineer and Sound Designer Ania Grzesik, Audio Engineer David Herman, Composer Maria Wurttele, Production Coordinator

Dr. Ross Kopelman spends time with Kevin Holesh founder of the Moment app to discuss how we can improve our wellness by decreasing our cellphone usage. In this day and age when we are super connected to our phones - we all know that spending too much time on our phone can potentially lead to depression, anxiety, and stress. Together Dr. Ross Kopelman and Kevin Holesh discuss how the Moment app helps people to rebuild their humanity and trains people to focus on healthy habits using your cellphone. Moment teaches us to refocus on what matters most and retrain our brains to decrease our dependency on using our smart phones 24/7.

In this episode of CDT's Tech Talk, host Brian Wesolowski addresses this question: when tech is designed to draw us in, is it possible to disengage and just live life? Brian sits down with Nick Fitz, recently a senior researcher at Duke University’s Center for Advanced Hindsight. Then he brings in Kevin Holesh the designer of Moment, an app that allows you to track just how much time you and your family members spend on their phones. More on Moment: https://inthemoment.io/ More on Nick: https://twitter.com/fitznich More on Kevin: https://twitter.com/kevinholesh More on our host, Brian: bit.ly/cdtbrian Attribution: sounds used from Psykophobia, Taira Komori, BenKoning, Zabuhailo, bloomypetal, guitarguy1985, bmusic92, and offthesky of freesound.org.

Click to Download Audio Summer is officially here which means the first season of the Optimize Yourself Podcast has come to a close (don't worry...I'll be back right after Labor Day). I cannot express enough how grateful I am to all of my listeners who inspire me to keep this program alive every single day. Please feel free to continue reaching out and sharing your stories (and your challenges) with me. I read every single message I receive. It is my belief that it's no longer necessary to sacrifice your health (and your sanity) in pursuit of your creative career or your business, and in season 2 I promise to continue finding the best experts I can to help design the optimized version of you...one small action step at a time. Since entering the world of podcasting 4 years ago now (it's been four years already???) I've interviewed over 150 people ranging from world-class experts in many different fields to everyday people sharing their personal journeys, their challenges, and their triumphs. I learn something profound and meaningful from every single interview, and I hope that you do as well. While choosing my favorite episodes (and your favorite episodes) from the past year is like choosing my favorite child, I've done my best based on user feedback, download statistics, and my own personal feelings as well. Below are my top 10 favorite podcast interviews from Season 1. 1. Breaking 'Bad' From Assistant to Editor | with Kelley Dixon, ACE Click here for this episode's show notes Kelley Dixon is simply a badass. She has edited some of the most iconic shows in television history including Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul, and The Walking Dead...to name a small few. What most people don't realize is that she spent over twenty years working as an assistant editor before becoming an "overnight success." This interview was EPIC, diving in for over 2 1/2 hours into the intricacies of Kelley's journey from the bottom to the top. We also discuss her ninja-like strategies for perfecting her craft despite working long and demanding hours as an assistant. 2. Understanding the Link Between Creativity and Depression | with Dr. Edison de Mello Click here for this episode's show notes This is the first episode of the Optimize Yourself podcast, and that's by design. One of the fundamental themes I revisit in all of my podcasts, articles, and my online courses is the idea of optimizing creativity. Unfortunately if you are blessed with creative abilities, they often come at a price. And that price is battling mental health issues like anxiety, depression, and burnout. In this interview I do a deep dive into the link between creativity and mental health issues with the man who saved my life many years ago, Dr. Edison de Mello of The Akasha Center For Integrative Medicine. 3. How to Rewrite Your Own Story | with Dr. Steven Isaacman Click here for this episode's show notes I recorded this episode more for my own personal reasons than because I thought it would be popular, but it ended up being the 3rd most downloaded episode of the whole season! In this episode I do a deep dive into the practice of psychoanalysis and the stories we write for ourselves every single day that could be holding us back from achieving great things. Dr. Steven Isaacman and I also have an in-depth discussion about the dreaded 'imposter syndrome' and how to overcome it when you work in creative fields. 4. The Disciplined Pursuit of Less | with Greg McKeown Click here for this episode's show notes "Less. But Better." This is the mantra of best-selling author of Greg McKeown, and I couldn't agree more. This is one of my favorite episodes because Greg takes a very honest approach towards all the noise and busy-ness we deal with in society today, and he helps us understand what is required to truly prioritize our lives properly and say "No" to everything urgent in our lives. If you want to start focusing on achieving important things in your life (and start ignoring the urgent), this episode is a must-listen. 5. FOCUS: The Superpower of the 21st Century | with Cal Newport Click here for this episode's show notes Cal Newport is quite possibly one of the world's foremost experts on the concept of 'Deep Work,' and we wasted no time diving deep into what is required to regularly get into this mental state to achieve maximum levels of creative flow. I learned a ton from this interview that I am now incorporating into my upcoming Focus Yourself online program, and if you feel like you're constantly distracted with no real direction, it's time to start developing focus as your next superpower. 6. How to Reverse Depression, Anxiety, and ADD at the Genetic Level | with Dr. Ben Lynch Click here for this episode's show notes The work that Dr. Ben Lynch is doing in the world of genetic testing and diagnosis is absolute LIFE. CHANGING. Having battled anxiety and depression for over a decade now I've experimented with numerous supplement and prescription medication routines, much of which was trial & error. But thanks to new technology from companies like 23andMe we can now get an accurate picture of our unique genetic makeup. Unfortunately most of the data is near-impossible to interpret, but that's where Dr. Lynch comes in. His "Clean Genes" protocol helps you understand your unique genetic code and also design the right lifestyle changes to optimize your own genetic expression. Of all of the episodes I released this year, this episode has received the most profound feedback from my listeners. 7. Finding Your 'One Thing' | with Jay Papasan Click here for this episode's show notes Whenever listeners and readers reach out to me confused about where to go with their careers or how to improve their health, often times the biggest problem is they have too many goals, too many priorities, and too many different projects they are taking on at one time. Thanks to Jay Papasan, co-author of the best-selling book 'The One Thing," there is now a simple formula to figure out the most impactful actions you can take to see the most results in your life. There isn't a single day that goes by for me when I don't ask myself, "What is the ONE THING I can do today such that by doing it everything else becomes easier (or unnecessary)?" 8. Your 'Smart' Phone Is Killing Your Creativity | with Kevin Holesh Click here for this episode's show notes Talking about the exploding epidemic of tech addiction is one of my favorite subjects, and in this episode I do a deep dive into specifically being addicted to "smart" phones (which in my opinion could just as easily be called "dumb" phones, because that's what they're doing to us). My guest is Kevin Holesh who designed the wonderful app Moment which is basically a Fitbit for your phone usage. Not only can it help you more clearly understand how much you're using your phone on a daily basis, the app can also help you drastically cut back on your addiction to your "smart" phone. 9. How to Tell Good Stories | with Jeff Bartsch Click here for this episode's show notes Storytelling has been my life's work for almost twenty years, and in this episode I chat with fellow film editor and Story Greenlight founder Jeff Bartsch about the components required to tell great stories. This applies to anyone who works in creative fields, not just editor or writers like us. But more importantly, not only do we discuss how to tell good stories, we discuss the importance of being able to tell your own story. 10. The Right Way to Network In Hollywood | with Chris Visser Click here for this episode's show notes I'm probably a bit biased when recommending this episode as one of my favorites, but that's because the guest Chris Visser is my (current) assistant editor. In this episode we do a deep dive into Chris' approach to building a relationship with me over time and networking the right way to become an integral part of my team. For anyone who's a socially awkward introvert struggling to build a professional network, this is a must-listen.   I'd love to know in the comments below, which was your favorite interview of this season? What would you like to learn more about Season 2?

Moment: https://inthemoment.io/ Get full access to The Strategy Inside Everything at specific.substack.com/subscribe

Apple and Google are both taking steps to limit screen time... for adults.  Funny enough, there's already an app for that.  Kevin Holesh developed "Moment" to try and help him put down his device and be more in the moment.  He joins Rob Breakenridge to talk about our battle to spend less time on our screens.

It’s time to be honest with yourself...when is the last time you and your smartphone were more than 5 feet away from each other? If you’re not staring at it right now, it’s probably in your pocket. When it’s not in your pocket, it’s charging within arm’s reach. If it’s not within arm’s reach (or God forbid you can’t find it), you most likely feel anxious and can’t focus until it’s in your grasp again. When you’re driving, it’s either in your lap or the cup holder next to you. When you’re sleeping, it’s most likely charging right next to your head. If any (or all) of these sound familiar, you are not alone. Smartphone addiction has become an epidemic, and that addiction is no accident. Smartphone users now check their phones upwards of 150 times per day1, and the top 10% of users touch their phones over 5400 times per day2! Your smartphone apps are specifically designed to hold as much of your attention as possible. The longer you spend inside the apps, the more money companies like Facebook and Twitter make off of stealing your attention. Unfortunately your attention is a finite resource, and every second that you give it away to your smartphone you are losing exponentially greater amounts of your creativity in return. If your livelihood depends on your ability to generate creative ideas consistently, being distracted is bad for business. Addiction by Design Have you ever wondered why you feel so compelled to continue scrolling through the latest posts on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or the hundreds of other social media apps? If you think that it’s “just me,” and that “I have no willpower or control,” you couldn’t be further from the truth. The reason you are so drawn to your smartphone is called ‘The Slot Machine Effect’ and it’s 100% intentional, deliberate, and precisely calculated by app developers to ensure you never want to leave. This desire you have to see if there is “just one more” cool picture or funny post is called “intermittent variable rewards,” and according to Tristan Harris, founder of the Time Well Spent movement and former Google Design Ethicist, it’s why you are okay walking around with a slot machine in your pocket all day long despite the fact that it’s hijacking your creativity, training you to live in a constant state of distraction, and possibly even hurting your personal relationships (Note: Those would be relationships with “real” people, not avatars or people with “@” before their name). “When we pull our phone out of our pocket, we’re playing a slot machine to see what notifications we got...what new emails we got...to see what photo comes next. If you want to maximize addictiveness, all tech designers need to do is link a user’s action with a variable reward,” according to Harris. Every time you make that gentle swiping motion with your thumb to refresh your feed, you are pulling the lever of the slot machine hoping that the next image, the next post, the next email will give you that oh-so-pleasurable dopamine hit...all while your ability to step “into the zone” and experience a state of “creative flow” is all but destroyed. The Cost of Distraction Before I go any further, I already know that you’re “different.” You’re good at multitasking, right? You can do intense creative work while also keeping up with email, text notifications, your Twitter feed, and all “breaking news” notifications. But here’s the thing...you’re not good at multitasking. The human brain is simple not capable of focusing on more than one complex task at a time, and every time you allow yourself to be interrupted your productivity plummets by over 40%3. Moreover, if you do happen to be in an uninterrupted state of Deep Work, every single time you “take just a second” to check your phone because of a notification (or just because you feel the need to pull the lever again), it takes you an average of 23.5 minutes to get back into your state of deep work4. If you find yourself working 60 hours or more a week trying to meet your deadlines yet you feel like all you do is spin your wheels, it could be because upwards of 25 of those hours were mostly wasted by either checking in with your smartphone or spending the extra time necessary to re enter your state of creative flow. 7 Simple Phone Hacks to Steal Back Your Creativity If your intention is to steal back your time, your energy, and your attention from your smartphone, below I have listed seven simple hacks to do so. But keep in mind that I deliberately use the word ‘simple,’ because most of these are not ‘easy.’ Given the intimate relationship you’ve developed with your smartphone, it will take time to accept these changes into your life and undo all of the addictive behaviors you’ve become accustomed to. Note that these are listed in order of least severe to the most severe, and you most likely won’t need to take all seven steps. The key is to systematically work through each step in order from top to bottom, and if after doing any given step for a few days you still don’t see a reduction in your smartphone addiction, move onto the next step to see if that helps you reach your desired level of smartphone interaction. Pre-Production Before jumping in and making changes, it’s imperative that you develop awareness of your current smartphone usage and behaviors. What you measure you can improve upon - without awareness and measurement there can be no change. Before jumping into these 7 simple hacks, I recommend downloading the Moment App which is basically Fitbit for your iPhone usage. It will help you track how many times you check your phone throughout the day, how many total minutes, and you can also track individual app usage as well. Want to learn more about how Moment can help you drastically reduce your iPhone addiction? Listen to my podcast interview with the app designer Kevin Holesh.   Hack #1: Turn off non-essential notifications Remember, I said ‘simple,’ not ‘easy.’ Most people live and die by their notifications and have become Pavlov’s dog. Each ding, buzz, and chime induces a pleasurable dopamine hit to the brain5, and each of these hits feeds the habit loop and induces the craving for more notifications. Rinse. Lather. Repeat. If you intend to regularly get into (and stay) in a state of creative flow and accomplish meaningful work, the first step is no longer allowing the ‘urgent’ needs of others to interrupt your focus and creativity. Turn of all non-essential communications including: ALL social media notifications ALL News feeds and alerts ALL game updates and messages Email notifications for non-essential accounts All ‘badges’ (the red dots that give you heart palpitations with the number of your unread messages) The only notifications or badges I still allow on my phone are related to my tasks, team activity, or making sure I’m available to family and close friends. Here are the only notifications or badges I still receive on my phone: Text messages (No other IM applications) Slack notifications (which I often mute or have in DND mode) Trello notifications Omnifocus badges for my to-do list Strides badges to track my daily habits I also work in ‘Do Not Disturb’ mode as my DEFAULT and always have my phone set to silent which means that I never hear text messages or notifications, but the most important notifications are available to read when I check my home screen again. To ensure the most important people in my life can get a hold of me in case of emergency, I have added them to my ‘Favorites’ list which means that their phone calls still go through. If you don’t have to worry about emergencies, I highly recommending working in ‘Airplane’ mode as your default. Hack #2: Make your screen black & white If you’re having a hard time living without notifications or badges and you find yourself anxiously wondering what you’ve missed, the next step is reducing the allure of your smartphone and those bright red dots and pretty pictures. If you think it’s an accident that the little badges for your unread messages are red, think again. This is yet another very calculated decision by app designers to make you feel like every update, every message, and every ‘Like’ is urgent and demands your utmost attention. Furthermore, there is a reason that Facebook spent 1 billion dollars to acquire Instagram - scrolling through a feed filled with pretty pictures makes you want to scroll for more pretty pictures. The more they capture your attention, the more revenue they generate. Suddenly those unread messages feel way less urgent. You’ll be amazed at how much less time you want to spend on your phone when it’s 100% black and white. Those “urgent” notification badges simply blend into the background and become almost invisible. And the photos of delicious meals, vast landscapes, or inspirational quotes start to feel pretty bland (best of all, in black and white President Trump is no longer orange). Which of these Instagram photos is more likely to steal your attention? Hopefully by now your desire to pull the slot machine lever is quickly dissipating. Here’s how to go Grayscale on the iPhone: Go to Settings>General>Accessibility Select Display Accommodations>Color Filters Select On>Grayscale The process differs considerably through a wide range of Android devices, but in general you’ll find this option available via “Settings” and “Accessibility.” Hack #3: Only keep your most frequently used TOOLS on your homepage If turning off notifications and also going grayscale still aren’t enough to eliminate your need to constantly check in and respond, it’s time to introduce a little Feng Shui to your smartphone. There is no doubt that when you unlocked your phone you had the best of intentions: “I’m just going to respond to this one email.” But as you unlock your home screen you are inundated with no less than eight different apps with red badges that demand your immediate attention. That’s how responding to one email becomes 45 minutes of checking up on social media notifications, doing just “one more level” of whatever game you enjoy, and getting sucked into the 24/7 black hole that we now call “breaking news.” Instead of having all of your most important apps on your home screen, try moving any apps with notifications or red badges to a different screen and keep only the tools that enhance your creativity and productivity on your home screen. If it’s not a TOOL, it belongs somewhere else. Think about it...when was the last time you felt a compulsion to “just check in on Google Maps?” Probably never. Keep this in mind with every tool you allow in the precious real estate that is your smartphone’s home screen. Here is how I have organized the apps on my home screen (which is always in B&W) Hack #4: Set your phone out of reach (and out of site) when doing creative work You’ve turned off notifications, your phone is painfully boring in black & white, and your home screen is no longer any fun. Yet you STILL feel the need to “just check” the time, your email, or what’s happening on Facebook or Snapchat. Or perhaps while doing creative work you suddenly find yourself unlocking your phone not even because you want to but because it’s just become muscle memory. Don’t panic, you can still overcome this addiction. All you have to do is physically remove your phone from site and place it somewhere out of arm’s reach. As long as your phone is far enough away that you have to remove your hands from your keyboard and step away from your workstation, the likelihood that you’ll want to check in every two minutes drastically drops. I charge my phone on a side table next to the couch in my office. This introduces just enough “friction” that to check it would require me to walk all the way around my workstation to the other end of the room. Given that my phone is always in DND mode, once it’s out of sight it’s out of mind, and I’ll go an hour or two before I realize I haven’t checked it at all (which works to my benefit, but my wife isn’t always happy about this particular hack). BONUS: If you want to go to the next level and start your day off with creative thoughts rather than immediately getting sucked into other people’s agendas, charge your phone outside of your bedroom. Hack #5: Install the ‘Space’ app to become more mindful about WHY you need to use certain apps Now things are getting pretty serious. All notifications are off, your screen is black & white, you’ve buried all the apps you’re addicted to deep into other screens and menus, and you have to physically walk somewhere else to check your phone...yet you still can’t quit. You want to pull that slot machine lever “just one more time.” I’m also sensing that you probably had a mini-stroke after skimming down below to hack #6 to see that I recommend deleting ALL news, social media, and email apps from your phone completely. If you’re not ready to go nuclear quite yet, what’s the next option? Now it’s time to force yourself to ask the question, “Why do I need to check my phone right now?” My recommendation is to install the Space app which was designed by developers who also develop algorithms to make your smartphone apps as addictive as humanly possible...so they understand what it requires to help you use them less. Space simply loads a “moment of Zen” before your app loads. By doing so it short-circuits the instant gratification mechanism that’s triggered when you check into your apps. Just these few moments of space forces you to ask yourself a very important question: “Am I opening this app because I need to? Or just because I can?” Hack #6: Uninstall ALL social media, news, messaging, games, and email apps from your phone (No...this isn’t a typo) Unfortunately you’ve worked through the previous 5 hacks, but no matter what steps you take, you can’t rid yourself of the desire to check in or play just “one more level.” Even though you clearly know that constantly distracting yourself is destroying your creativity, staying up to date on every single Facebook notification and every tweet is just too important. You just can’t help yourself! It’s time to go nuclear. This step is the epitome of ‘simple’ but not ‘easy.’ You no doubt are very clear on the steps required to delete an app from your phone….but can you actually pull the trigger? Before going into full-blown panic, remember that after deleting your apps they still exist, and you’ll still have all your friends. You can still choose to install your apps again in the future. As a matter of fact, if permanently deleting all offending apps seems like too much, simply make it a rule when you are done using an app you delete it. Then when you want to use the app, you just have to reinstall it and login again. Similar to moving your phone to the other side of the room, reinstalling an app provides just enough “friction” that you’ll most likely choose not to do that action 50 times per day. But if you truly need to use the app for something important, that one extra minute to install it isn’t a big deal. A second option that I often use  is to log into social media or email via my phone’s web browser. This works perfectly because most apps in mobile web browsers really suck. (Seriously, try using Facebook for any length of time in a mobile browser...it’s an awful user experience) This crappy user experience is just enough to keep me from getting sucked into the app, but if I’m on the go and know there is something important to address, I can always login quickly via a web browser to take care of business. Okay, Facebook and social media apps are one thing, but let’s address the 800 pound gorilla in the room. There’s no way on Earth that you could function without email on your phone. Not having 24/7 access to email is impossible. Peole expect you to respond immediately, and you have to know what’s going on every minute of the day. Without (obsessively) keeping up with your inbox, the project you’re working on will simply crumble to the ground, not to mention every single personal and professional relationship. In short, without email...your world will stop spinning. Or will it? I don’t remember the last time I had an email app installed on my phone, yet I manage 6 different email addresses (and routinely have fewer than 25 unread messages amongst ALL accounts), I have a team of 4 people helping me with my blog and podcast, I’m editing at least one network TV series at any given time for 50+ hours per week, I have two young kids, and I’m scheduling a minimum of 4-8 podcast guests per month. How is it possible that the Earth continues to spin on its axis if I don’t constantly keep up with my email? It’s as simple as this: I treat my email exactly the same way I treat my laundry. Would you run a load of wash if you had a single dirty sock? You shouldn’t stop your entire day or interrupt your creative flow for a single email either. Do you know what happens when you stop responding to social media posts and emails immediately? Nothing. Instead of becoming Pavlov’s dog to your social media and email notifications, try being intentional about when you are going to specifically process social media and email. I schedule time blocks throughout my day where I am 100% intentional about my use of social media and email, and my level of focus when processing notifications and inboxes is equal to the amount of focus I bring to much more demanding creative tasks. BONUS: If you feel your job would be in jeopardy by not responding to emails immediately, my recommendation would be to create a work-specific address so that you know if you receive an email it requires a response, but it won’t get mixed up with the 150 other junk messages, newsletters, or quick check-ins from friends or family. Hack #7: Install the Freedom App to block ALL offending websites If you’ve worked through all six of the previous hacks but you STILL can’t stop yourself from constantly refreshing Facebook, Gmail, or your favorite news apps right in your mobile web browser, it’s time to make it literally impossible to login to anything that steals your attention and robs you of your creativity. It’s time for Freedom. Here is your Freedom dashboard which is fully customizable to any site on the internet. You can also create and block customized groups. Freedom is an app that you can use across all of your devices and web browsers, so this will help you stay away from all offending sites on your smartphone, laptop, and main workstation simultaneously via one simple dashboard. You can customize which sites to block, and more importantly you can set a specific period of time. So this doesn’t mean all hope is lost forever, you can check back in to all your favorite social media sites, news sites, and your email….after your creative work is done. Have truer words ever been spoken? The Tip of the Iceberg Managing all of the distractions that your smartphone creates is the tip of a much deeper iceberg if you want to maximize your focus and creativity. If you’re interested in developing laser-sharp focus and taking real action towards the most important goals in your life, having complete clarity on what needs to get done, and having 100% confidence that you are doing what’s necessary, then I invite you to join the waitlist for my ‘Focus Yourself’ program so you are the first to know when beta enrollment opens (and get a steep discount). I’ll even send you my 50 page ‘Ultimate Guide to Optimizing Your Creativity (And Avoiding Burnout)’ as a bonus! Sources: 1 https://mobile-text-alerts.com/blog/150-times-day-mobile-phone/ 2 https://blog.dscout.com/mobile-touches 3 http://www.apa.org/monitor/oct01/multitask.aspx 4 https://www.ics.uci.edu/~gmark/chi08-mark.pdf 5 https://www.ama.org/publications/MarketingNews/Pages/feeding-the-addiction.aspx

Smartphone addiction has become an epidemic. A study in 2015 found that Americans collectively check their smartphones upwards of 8 billion times...per day. That’s an average of 46 times per day for the average person (and this was over 2 years ago, it’s only getting worse). Want to be really shocked? Just one year later another research firm found that smartphone users engaged in 76 sessions per day (almost doubling in one year), and those same users touched their phones an average of 2617 times per day, and the top 10% of users exceeded more than 5400 touches per day. The prevailing statistic today is that smartphone users check their phones more than 150 times per day. 150...doubling AGAIN from the previous year. I don’t know about you, but when I’m on my deathbed, I highly doubt I’m going to think to myself, “I’m glad I kept up with all of those social media notifications.” To put it frankly: There is no single distraction more detrimental to your creativity than your smartphone. If you have any desire to thrive as a creative professional in the 21st century “attention economy” as dubbed by my previous guest Cal Newport, you have to learn how to manage your smartphone usage. In today’s episode I chat with Kevin Holesh, an app developer and the creator of what might possibly be the most life-changing app you will ever download: Moment. We talk all about his app, how his journey to develop this app simply began as a way to minimize his own smartphone usage, and the most importantly how you can use Moment to become aware of your own smartphone addiction (and yes, you have a smartphone addiction). This app has been featured in frankly just about every major publication and podcast known to man, a few examples being Wired, MacWorld, Mashable, The Huffington Post, The Wall Street Journal, Fast Company, and seriously at least 25 more that I don’t have time to mention. This app is Fitbit for your smartphone addiction, and it will change your life. Even if you don’t listen to this podcast, do yourself a favor and download the app here. Want to Hear More Episodes Like This One? » Click here to subscribe and never miss another episode Here's What You'll Learn: Distraction addiction and the ways that screen time sneaks up on you How much time are we really spending on our phones? Kevin's journey to developing the app millions of people didn't know they needed How moment is like MyFitnessPal or Fitbit but for phone usage Why boredom is essential for a fruitful, creative life The strange preconceptions that people have of productivity app designers Do you know what percentage of your life you are spending looking at your phone? Most frequently used apps are all social media related, not productivity based How's your phone hygiene? (and yes, it's a real thing) Useful Resources Mentioned: Focus Driving App Moment Screen Awareness App Move App for Office Movement Our Generous Sponsors: This episode is made possible by Ergodriven, the makers of the Topo Mat, my #1 recommendation for anyone interested in moving more at their height-adjustable workstation. Listen, standing desks are only great if you’re standing well, otherwise you’re constantly fighting fatigue and chronic pain. Not like any other anti-fatigue mat, the Topo is scientifically proven to help you move more throughout the day which helps reduce discomfort and also increase your focus and productivity. And they’re really fun and a great conversation starter. This episode is made possible by the HumanCharger,  a revolutionary new light therapy device made specifically for people who spend long days in the dark and don’t get enough sunlight…i.e. You and me. Simply put in the earbuds for 12 minutes a day to receive your daily recommended dosage of UV-free white light. Doing so can drastically increase your energy, improve your mood, and increase mental alertness and focus.This device has literally changed my life and I use it every morning without fail. Use the code ‘OPTIMIZE’ to get 20% off your order. This episode is made possible by StoryBlocks, my go-to resource for professional stock images for my sites. Use this link to download anything from their library of over 400,000 stunning photos, textures, images, and icons free for 7 days and get discounts on millions of more items. Guest Bio: Kevin Holesh is an app developer and the creator of Moment.   Show Credits: This episode was edited by Curtis Fritsch, and the show notes were prepared and published by Jakin Rintelman. Special thanks to Krystle Penhall and Sarah Furie for helping to spread the love! The original music in the opening and closing of the show is courtesy of Joe Trapanese (who is quite possibly one of the most talented composers on the face of the planet). Note: I believe in 100% transparency, so please note that I receive a small commission if you purchase products from some of the links on this page (at no additional cost to you). Your support is what helps keep this program alive. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact me.

Kevin Holesh, Founder of the popular iOS app Moment talks to us about the app, the challenges he faced, and why it is so important for us to strive for quality screen time

Kevin Holesh is an app developer who built ‘Moment’—an iPhone app which tracks how long you spend using your phone each day and helps you stop using it. He’s also behind ‘Focus’—an app which stops you texting and driving; and Move—which helps you stay active. The technology behind each of these projects is truly innovative (read: hacky!), and … Continue reading MATE 019 – Kevin Holesh built an iPhone app to stop you using your iPhone all day The post MATE 019 – Kevin Holesh built an iPhone app to stop you using your iPhone all day appeared first on MATE podcast.

Kevin Holesh is a Pittsburgh-based UI designer and iOS developer who loves making and coding clear interfaces. Kevin is the creator of Moment and Moment Family, the iOS apps that tracks how much you and your family use your iPhones and iPads each day. His work has been featured in the New York Times, TechCrunch, BuzzFeed, Good Morning America, Parents magazine and many other national publications. Show notes at http://hellotechpros.com/kevin-holesh-unplugged/ Key Takeaways Do you know how much time you spend on your phone? The average Moment user uses their mobile device for 2 hours and 44 minutes a day 3:30pm is a typical part of the day when people are tired from work and gravitate to their phones Keeping your phone away from your bedside can cut your usage down nearly 50% Knowing how much you use your device can allow you to make better decisions on how you spend your time People tend to underestimate their phone usage by 50% Better things to do with your time other than screen time Improve relationships Play with kids Family games Live in the moment Go for a walk Build something Work on your goals With your phone, you can customize your addictions Resources Mentioned Moment for iOS - Track how much you and your family use your phone Get a free audio book and a 30-day trial from Audible

This week, I interviewed a full-time RVer named Kevin Holesh who’s app called Moment has been downloaded over 2.5 million times. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/rve/message

In a world where it is considered appropriate to leave your phone face up at the dinner table, where one can find private text messages from an ex screen-captured and posted on Instagram for all to see, and where even Mary-Kate Olsen forces her wedding guests to forfeit their phones into a bowl... sometimes we just need a little bit of advice.  Enter Mallory Ortberg, best known for writings such as an imagined dialogue with baby Foucault to unsolicited advice for Henry VIII's wives to fan fic about Kristen Stewart-as-a-girlfriend. Her "Texts From..." series on The Toast, where she imagined text message conversations between historical and literary figures, became a book last year called Texts From Jane Eyre. And as of November, she's becoming the newest Dear Prudence advice columnist at Slate.  On this week's episode of Note to Self, we asked Mallory to put on her Prudence hat to help us answer just a few of questions we've received from listeners desperately seeking tech advice. We're also taking this opportunity to test out a new app called Focus from our friend Kevin Holesh (the developer behind the Moment app, which tracks how much time you spend on your phone). It yells at you for walking and texting. Or, as we prefer to call it, "wexting." Listen in to hear what she has to say on these questions, and to learn what, exactly, "wexting" is*: Why Won't Anyone Respond to my Emails? "I have noticed that it is often impossible to get people to respond to emails. Even to emails containing a direct question, even to work emails.  People may read them, but often don't respond to them.  Do they forget to, or just not feel the need to respond? Should I be paranoid or is this an issue for other people as well?" – Dulcie Arnold in New York How Can I Avoid Social Media FOMO? "I am constantly using Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, etc., and I do enjoy using them, so I don't want to just flat out stop. However, I do often get bad cases of FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out). I am constantly feeling left out (even if I wouldn't even want to go if invited). I never feel content with what I'm doing myself. Even though I know most of these posts are taken to make it look like a really good time (even when it's not), I still fall for it."  – Kynan in Australia Is the "Wexting" Zombie Apocalypse Upon Us? "I'd like to ask about... a phenomenon I call 'cell phone zombies.' It's the people I have to be on the alert to avoid hitting because they're walking the streets with their hands outstretched completely looking intently at their cell phones oblivious of their surroundings." – Liel Biran in Israel In this episode: Mallory Ortberg, Slate's newest Dear Prudence Kevin Holesh, the developer behind the anti-driving/walking and texting app Focus Subscribe to Note to Self on iTunes, Stitcher, TuneIn, I Heart Radio, or anywhere else using our RSS feed.